Thoughts Cubed™

Part of the magic of the whole house audio system is the Apple airport express. This little box is a multi function power house. In this little 4 by 3 by 1 inch package you get a router, WiFi access point, a music streaming device and a network printer adaptor. And one of my pet peeves there is no wall wart. I hate wall warts they are a pain to deal with.

So the part we will be using for whole house audio system is the music streaming device. This part of the Airport Express integrates with iTunes so you can select which AirPort Express you want to send music too. Plus you have the option of playing your music through your Computer speakers and through the Airport Express synchronized. You can also send music to several airport express units all at the same time. So you have the same music playing in several room or areas all at the same time.

We do this with the house, the patio, and pool area. All three areas are playing the same music at the same time.
So now you want to play music in the kids’ room and different music in the family room. OK you select the music from different iTunes library and send it to the desired airport express. Done

So now what about amplifiers and speakers for all this? Being that the AirPort devices are distributed all around your house the cost of wiring is minimal or non-existing, as you can stream wireless to an airport Express using WiFi. So that is where the Audioengin A5 speakers come in to play. More on the speakers next time.

OK, I have been waiting for Microsoft to pull it together for home users for four years now. Microsoft has introduced “Windows Media Center” (with a major version upgrade in Vista) and “Media Player” I have purchase Roku streaming players to stream music through my house and yard. I have also purchased three different kinds of Media center Extenders to route media around the house.

One of the big problems has been remotes and the need to turn on a TV to play music. The Roku Soundbridge solved the need for the TV but you cannot synchronize the multiple devices to play the same music. Plus the display is text only. I know recently that Logitech bought the Squeezebox™ and has been announcing better integrated product this last year, they are expensive. Nothing like Apple is putting together.

Apple is not always the best solution right out of the gate. Give Apple a few revisions and they start to get it right. The announcement that pushed me into the Apple camp was a little piece of FREE software for the iPhone and iTouch called Remote. To me Remote pulled home media all together and the light went off.

So the picture above shows all the parts for a simple, very user friendly and flexible whole house audio system. The core of the system is one or multiple Mini Mac to store all your music. I would use multiple Mini Macs to store diverse music libraries for instance Mom and dad’s music verse the kids music. Running on the Macs would be iTunes as the music server. Ya, I know I did not like iTunes when it first was released, but Apple won me over by integrating their network products (airport Express) and MP3 players (iPods) seamlessly into iTunes.

First iTunes, as we all know works great with the iPhone and iPods. My favored is the iTouch. Why you ask, again it is that free software appilication name “Remote” that runs on the iPhone and iTouch. With Remote I can control my whole house music system from the palm of my hand using a full color remote call the iTouch (better and cheeper then the Squeezebox™ Controller). Very cool…. I can change from my library of music to my Kids library of music. Or I can select an album, see the cover art, select a song, and select what room I want to play the select music in. OR multiple rooms if I desire.

How is this done, through the magic of the Apple Airport express and Audioengin A5 speakers. All that will be in part two.

Do you rent your car? Do you rent your home? Most people do not or are striving not to rent. Then why do we all rent our electricity? The majority of the public rents their electricity. Well it could be viewed that way, because you are really renting the ability of the power company to generate and deliver power to your home.

You are renting a portion of the physical plant, coal, nuclear, steam, hydro or Solar that generates the electrical power. Also you are renting the transmission lines that are used to move the power from the generating plant to your place of residence.

So why not buy your electricity just like you buy your car or your home. When we buy personal property that is more then we can pay out in one lump sum, we finance it over a period of time. But when that financial obligation is paid off we own that piece of personal property. Granted it takes a lot longer to pay off a home over a vehicle.

So do the same thing with your electricity. Buy it! For many of us that live in the sunbelt we can purchase our own power generating system. And once installed, it requires very little maintenance and does not emit any pollutants. The answer is photovoltaic panels. Ok, they are still kind of expensive, although the cost is coming down over just ten years ago. And the products are more mainstream and readily available today. Most system also will qualify for federal and state rebate programs or tax credits.

So instead of being a Dumb American and paying the power company every month for the rest of your life, pay yourself. Take that monthly amount you would pay out to the power company and pay off your solar system over time. Then when the system is paid off you will be getting almost free electricity.

They are back…the all electric vehicles. It has been almost ten years since Chevrolet produced the all electric S10 mid size truck and six years since the all electric Ford Ranger. Both Chevy and Ford finished their electric vehicles with Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries. The best and most technically advance battery at the time, also the most expensive. BUT the trucks has limited public acceptance.

Some of the problem with these two trucks were long charging times and short driving distances. The biggest problem is you could NOT buy one. They were only leased. Some, of these electric trucks worked their way from being leased to being purchased. Only about 200 of the Rangers were sold and less than 100 of the Chevy S10 were sold. The rest were CRUSHED.

Have no fear the Phoenix MotorCars company is raising out of the oily, smoggy, soot of southern California. They are producing two all electric vehicles. The big new is they will be sold to the public. Not leased or available for fleet only. So as long as you have $45,000 you can own your very own 100% smog free truck.

The stats on the truck are amazing. Just the available driving range of 130 miles plus, is off the cart for an electric vehicle. And next year, 2009, ther will be and extended battery pack to increase the range to 250 miles. The brushless electric drive has no gears to cycle through and has regenerative breaking at 94% efficiency. This tinny 191 pound electric motor delivers a whooping 400 plus foot pounds of peak toque and 134 horse power. It will push this five passenger sport truck to in excess of 100 MPH and deliver 0 to 60 times around 10 seconds.

Phoenix MotorCars is using the NanoSafe™ battery. It’s a 35 kilowatts battery pack that is lithium ion based. The batteries can be charged in 10 minutes or less, but requires 480 volts. About the same time it takes to fuel a gasoline car. So you’re saying to yourself, who has 480 volts at the home. And I would say to you, who has a gas station at home. The point is, the 480 would be available at a recharging station just like gasoline is today. But with the electric vehicle you also have the option of charging it at home using your photovoltaic solar panels, for zero emissions.

People test driving the Phoenix MotorCars SUT have used words like smooth, strong, powerful, great, it is a real car. I cannot wait to get my hands on one of these little beauty and then I can tell the oil companies to stick it where the sun does not shine.

What a great time to be driving an American automobile. And your thinking… you got to be nuts, with the price of gas these days and low MPG ratings. Every fill up is $50.00 bucks plus.

My thoughts are baised on a trend that we have not seen in 40 years. Just look at the horsepower race that is going on. We have not seen cars being built with this much horsepower since the muscle cars of the 60’s and early 70’s. Detroit is building cars with 4 hundred, 5 hundred and even some with over 6 hundred horsepower.

The current top dogs being the Dodge Viper with 600 horsepower and Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 supercar with 630 horsepower. Ok their sports cars. So, you ask, what about the mid-size sedan 2009 Cadillac CTS-V with 550 horsepower, it is over the top! All of these cars have horsepower that years ago would have been considered exotic and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Just look at the Porsche 911 GT2, with 501 horsepower at almost 200 grand. You can buy the Corvette ZR1 for a little more than half of the Porsche and you get over 600 horsepower not the measly 501 the Porsche has. Or get your hands on the CTS-V, that will do a sub 4 second 0-60, for under $70,000.

Who knows what will happen in the next few years? With all the government regulations hitting for higher Mile Per Gallon ratings hitting. We might be seeing the auto manufactures dropping all these great horsepower numbers to achieve the average fleet MPG rates being regulated by the government. So you better run out and drive one of these power house now.

So even though Gas prices are high, and I mean sky high, it is still great to be driving an American car with all this horsepower.